Four Food Products I am Currently Loving

October 20, 2009Angela (Oh She Glows)

by Angela (Oh She Glows) on October 20, 2009

Good evening!

I hope you are having a fabulous day. What a busy day I have had. I have been humming along shipping out my Healthy Halloween Chocolate Lovers Variety Packs today. You guys sure love this variety pack. Thank you for your orders and excitement! It felt awesome because I have all of the packs packed and ready to go so those of you who ordered today had it shipped out today. Not too shabby! There are still a few left of your want to get your hands on some, as well as Chi, Refresh, Revive, Heaven, and Classic Glo Bar flavours.

I apologize for the comments not working in my post earlier. I am not sure what was going on, but they kept turning off. Hopefully, that doesn’t continue to happen. I missed your sweetness today! ;)

It has been a while since I have given product reviews, so I thought tonight would be a good time given my extreme bout of writer’s block today. I honestly starred at my keyboard for about 20 minutes tonight….DUH! I think my half marathon killed some brain cells? ;) I realized that I had tried a bunch of products lately that I haven’t told you about.

Intentional Chocolate sent me their vegan dark chocolate to try out. Naturally, I was pumped being the dark chocolate fan that I am! Their products are made with pure Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate and they are free of additives and herbs. The company also donates 50% of its’ net profits to charity.

I put one of these Fine Dark Chocolate Pistoles on my tongue and let it melt. This is how I test good chocolate. I just can’t stand the hard, wax-like chocolate.

To my delight this chocolate was absolutely everything I dreamed it would be. Smooth, creamy, intense but not bitter or over-powering. It is one of the best chocolates I have tasted. I had to hide the bag so I wouldn’t polish it off! :)

The company also claims that ‘intention’ is embedded into each piece of Intentional Chocolate. What is intention you ask? It is a thought, prayer, or blessing. It is the expression of purpose and the direction of source energy that is within all of us. The company also claims to have published a double-blind, placebo controlled pilot study in Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing. In this study, they found that 1 ounce of Intentional Chocolate a day for 3 days increased participants’ well-being, vigor, and energy by 67%.

Now I consider myself to be a pretty open minded person, but I don’t see how Intentional Chocolate would benefit someone greater than your average pure dark chocolate would. Aside from a placebo effect and all. I mean, if you believe this chocolate is going to have healing powers than it just might…but so might your average dark chocolate in the grocery store. Personally, I don’t care about whether my chocolate is intentional or not, all I care about is the taste. And this surely passed my taste test.

These were given to me at the trade show I went to. They are vegan to my delight. I love spelt, so anytime I can get my hands on a spelt product I jump at the chance!

They are thin and very long- about 7-8 inches in length.

The taste was lovely! I didn’t think I was going to like them because I have had bad experiences with flatbread crackers before, but these were delicious. I loved that they were made from spelt and had a ton of sesame seeds on them. They were super crisp and great for dunking in hummus or salsa. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

They have just 60 calories per thin, which is a good deal because the crackers take quite a while to eat. They also have 1 gram of fat, 2 grams of protein, and 1 gram of fibre per thin.

The president of Manitoba Harvest gave me a tub of their newest hemp protein powder at the trade show. It has a whopping 21 grams of protein per 1/4 cup serving!

I am always looking for a vegan, all natural protein powder that I can add to my green monsters, especially after intense workouts.

I was a bit leery of this powder- I was afraid that it was going to taste badly like many protein powders do. However, I was pleasantly surprised! I used 1/4 cup of the powder and it didn’t affect the taste of my green monster much at all. In fact, it made my green monster very creamy and smooth in texture and taste! This product is a definite winner.

I would definitely buy this powder again. I currently use hulled hemp seeds in my green monsters, however to get the same amount of protein (21-22 grams) I would have to use 1/4 cup of hemp seeds- which is fine- but I would be doubling my calories. In 1/4 cup of hemp seeds there are 320 calories vs. the 140 for the protein powder. Now you obviously get way more healthy fats in the 1/4 cup of hulled hemp seed (20 grams vs 4.5 in the powder), so keep that in mind too.

I can’t believe I have never had these before! They are simply AWESOME! They are tart, yet sweet and they remind me of a much healthier Sour Patch Kid. I love these goldenberries so much. I definitely see a goldenberry Glo Bar in the future too!!!

They are quite healthy too! "Not your average dried fruit, flavor-packed Goldenberries also boast an excellent nutritional profile. The fruit is best noted for its high amounts of carotene and bioflavonoids — nutrients which studies have shown to produce anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity (among many other benefits). Goldenberries are also an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, and contain a good amount of dietary fiber and pectin. Unlike most fruits, Goldenberries also contain protein and phosphorous." [Source]

For 1/4 cup, they have 160 calories, 6 grams of fibre, and 4 grams of protein. I found they were quite satisfying. I had about 2 tablespoons and it totally took away my sugar craving.

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So there you have it! The 4 health food products I am currently loving.

What about you? Have you tried any food products lately that you loved (or hated)?

What kind do you have? I LOVE cacao nibs and I eat them just like I would chocolate chips (in banana softserve, oatmeal, smoothies, trail mix). I don’t find them very bitter at all, so I’m curious if it’s a brand difference.

Mine have a natural roasted flavour with just a hint of bitterness, similar to 70% dark chocolate. I can’t remember what brand they are right now but I can look if you’d like.

I am trying to switch out my old beauty products for my natural ones and I am currently obsessing over Dr. Bronner’s Organic Peppermint Bar Soap. It feels divine on my skin, is certified fair trade and totally wakes you up with the minty scent!

I’m super obsessed with Tahini right now. Ive been putting it on everything. I just love the taste and texture it brings. Although I have watch the serving size..(just like with peanut butter) But I did find a great lower calorie version of it at Trader Joes that uses pretty decent ingredients! Has more of a hummus like consistency too which is perfect for “controlled” dipping. HA!

Your new food products are awesome! I actually just finished up a post about new things I’ve tried, but I’m a little sad that mine don’t include CHOCOLATE. I always get excited when I see someone else who loves hemp protein powder– I LOVE it!

Yay Angela – I totally love hemp protein and I use that brand too. I have it every morning in my smoothie. It helps keep me full until at least 10 am which is about 2 hours longer than most food keeps me full for.

Right now with the weather getting colder, I seriously can’t get enough of this meal: vegan chili mixed with cooked zucchini, onions, and peppers, topped with cheddar soy cheese. My boyfriend will sometimes make cornbread and the combination is to die for! So filling!

I tried Amazing Grass for the first time today and HATED it! I added the chocolate flavor to my first green monster and it made it taste chalky and off. Thank GOd I gave green monsters another chance later and LOVED it.

I also love chia seeds and pumpkin butter. The jury is still out on pop chips. I tried them while sick so I don’t know if I gave them a fair shot.

Potato chips that are “popped” instead of baked or fried. The only place I can find them where I live is Target (I’m USA tho).
They DEFINATELY satisfy the “crunch” craving of chips, with better stats than any chip I’ve seen.

I’m am loving Kimberley’s brand gluten-free “bread.” I say bread in quotes because it’s made of ground flax seeds and beans (romano and navy), so it’s more like a loaf, but it is so moist and amazing- similar to a very dense banana bread or something. It’s vegan and you can get it in Ontario Angela! You can get it at Planet Organic and i’ve also found it at other smaller health food stores. They have a plain flavour, as well as cinnamon raisin and chocolate flavours and also muffins! It’s sooo good! And 4 grams of protein, 4 grams of fibre and 2 grams of omega 3 (from all the flax!) all in one slice- and one slice is pretty tiny. I would highly recommend it- delicious, simple ingrdient list, vegan, soy-free, gluten-free and very YUMMY!!!

Unfortunately I have not had the honor of sampling so many wonderful products as you have… but I would not mind trying all four. They sound and look amazing, especially the chocolate, but maybe that’s my hormones speaking :)

Mmm the lavish looks cool! I don’t think I’ve ever had lavish. And I definitely agree with the dark chocolate. If you ever eat the Hershey’s dark chocolate, it does NOT melt! It doesn’t even compare to Ghiradelli or anything else.

I tried raw almond butter recently after hearing so many rave reviews in blog world. I didn’t like it that much! It was okayyyy, but I’m afraid nothing compares to a roasty toasty flavor for nut butters :O)

Lately I’ve been very into cumin… it tastes great on any savory foods, last night I sprinkled on some sweet potato fries and they tasted great!

These products seem intriguing. I am especially interested in the golden berries – I LOVE Sour Patch Kids candy and sour / sweet foods, so these seem like they’d be great! Also love the Intentions product, their mission is really great.

I am obsessed with your bars! I just got my box of them today and was so excited. I wanted to try all of them at once, but I controlled myself and only tried the run one and LOVE IT :) I packed the renew one for recess duty tomorrow.